Sunday, October 30, 2005

The ComingSoon.net Box Office Report has been updated with the studio estimates for the weekend. Be sure to stay tuned there for the final figures on Monday.

After a month of poor business with no single movie earning more than $17 million in a single weekend, the box office has finally been knocked out of its doldrums by two sequels, each appealing to different audiences.

The clear cut winner of the weekend was Lions Gate Films' sequel to their 2004 horror hit, Saw II, bringing back the serial killer known as Jigsaw. It made an estimated $30.5 million its opening weekend, setting the record for a Halloween opening and becoming the Vancouver-based studio's highest opening film to date. It also became the fifth-highest October opener of all time with an average per-theatre over $10 thousand. Presumably filmed for $4 million, more than three times the cost of its predecessor, the sequel made three times its production budget by the close of business on Friday.

Then, there was Sony Pictures' The Legend of Zorro, the sequel to the 1998 film starring Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones, which cost $75 million to make and had to settle for second place with an estimated $16.5 million. Directed by Martin Campbell, the movie opened in over 3,500 theatres with an average of $4,687.

Universal's romantic comedy Prime, starring Uma Thurman, Meryl Streep and newcomer Bryan Greenberg, opened with a respectable $6.4 million in just over 1,800 theatres for third place.

It came out just ahead of DreamWorks' horseracing film Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story, starring Kurt Russell and Dakota Fanning, which added over 400 theatres in its second weekend and another $6.3 million. It had the smallest drop of any movie in the Top 10, as it grossed $17 million in its first ten days. DreamWorks' other family film Wallace & Gromit - The Curse of the Were-Rabbit got very close to $50 million thanks to its $4.4 million weekend take, as it dropped down to fifth place.

Opening in the #6 slot, Paramount's dark comedy The Weather Man starring Nicholas Cage and Michael Caine, failed to attract audiences with the thought of flying fast food, and it grossed only $4.2 million in a moderate release of 1,500 theatres.

Universal Pictures' Doom, based on the popular video game, took a huge hit in its second weekend, dropping 73% and six places after topping the charts last weekend with just over $15 million. Its second weekend take of $4 million brought its total to just under $23 million.

The eighth and ninth place went to Screen Gems' remake of The Fog and the Charlize Theron mining drama North Country respectively, each making just over $3 million.

Rounding out the Top 10 was the Jodie Foster thriller Flightplan from Touchstone Pictures, which grossed $2.6 million, bringing its total gross to $81 million.

George Clooney's historic drama Good Night, And Good Luck. continues to chug away, holding its place at #12 with a minimal 11% drop-off. Next weekend, it will expand into over 550 theatres nationwide after earning $7.2 million in limited release, so expect it to make its presence felt in the Top 10.

Outside of the Top 12, the urban drama G was given a nationwide release into 495 theatres this weekend, where it earned $1.3 million, twice its box office gross in its first five weeks of limited release. Steve Martin's drama Shop Girl, starring Claire Danes, expanded into 42 theatres and moved into the Top 20 with a second weekend take of $459 thousand.

The only two significant films in limited release were the Palestinian drama Paradise Now from Warner Independent Pictures and the Three... Extremes, an Asian horror anthology from Lions Gate Films. The former made a respectable $49 thousand in four theatres in New York and L.A., while the latter made less than that in almost five times as many theatres. Presumably, Lions Gate are too busy celebrating their #1 hit to worry too much about it.

Saturday, October 29, 2005

SAW II Gained 12 million (which is alot) ON ITS FIRST DAY(seeing as is Doom made 16 million in its first weekend) SAW III is bound to be coming! I loved SAW II so Much now its time to hype about SAW III!!!!

its not the full clip, if you want to know what happens (I Saw it on spike) highlight below:

(This is AFTER the CLIP!)Basically she falls in there and jonas is like "why'd you do that" to Xavier and then she starts searching and searching and xavier keeps telling her to hurry up and then she finally fines it with about 4 seconds left Xavier gets it goes over to the door and then sorta drops it and he puts it in but its to late the door is locked!

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

Johnny_Butane: We have the one and only Shawnee Smith in the HC house!

Shawnee_Smith: Hey guys...

Johnny_Butane: Let's get it started! First question is to Jigsaws_Trap!

Jigsaws_Trap: Hello, Shawnee the Beautiful...Thank you for taking the time out for letting us hardcore fans ask you a question. Could you possibly tell us how you were approached to play Amanda in the first film, and your reactions on the headtrap and possibly

Shawnee_Smith: Let's see, it won't be Shawnee the beautiful after this movie. I think I'll win an award after this movie...I look so bad, it's good. But thank you.

My management company produced the first one and asked me to do the jawtrap scene and they sent me the script. When I read it, and was so horrified and disturbed by it, I said, no thank you. I don't want to live that out even for a day.

But they persisted, showed me a short film of the scene with Leigh in the jaw trap, and I finally said, OKAY...and I'm glad I did…but I'm still horrified by the whole thing. I saw a screening of it and had the worst nightmare of my life after watching Saw II. Like three days after that screening...and there was a saw involved.

jdclar: Hey girl! Thanks so much for being here! Can you tell us about your experiences working with and just being around Tobin? Figured you've seen him the most! What's he like, girl?!

Shawnee_Smith: I actually didn't get to work with Tobin that much, but the little that I did was very interesting. He is a very specific actor and very deliberate choices, right down to little things that were in his room that the audience will never see that the prop department labored over. He was great.

Goldmember91: Shawnee! Hi! Looking good! Will Saw II show us what Amanda did before she got to the trap house? I would like more detail on your character. So much to tell!

Shawnee_Smith: Yes, you definitely get clues as to what Amanda's been up to between part one and part two. They should be satisfying.

freddyfan12: Were you at all surprised that they asked you back to do Saw II? And what were your reactions towards the script and being back on set?

Shawnee_Smith: Well, being as I was the only one who lived through the first, aside from Tobin, I wasn't terribly shocked, but I was thrilled to say the least...and nervous about receiving the sequel script cause for me sequels rarely answer to the original. But I was even more thrilled when I got the script and shooting that horror sequel was heaven.

Shifty: Hey Shawnee. Becker rules! Anyways, what do you think of the opening scene to Saw II? Were you impressed by Darrens shooting tactics? Were they separate in a unique way from Leigh and Wans?

Shawnee_Smith: I was impressed with Darren across the board. Reading the opening scene in the script was intimidating to think of how I was going to parlay what was on those pages onto the screen. For Darren, this is his first big film...but he won my confidence in our meetings before we started shooting and added to that confidence with the way he conducted himself on the set. Of course he was surrounded by the best team of producers and crew that you can find.

When I saw the first scene edited I was, um, confident about the rest of the movie.

The_Monster: Shawnee, I very glad you've taken time to answer questions from your fans and possible stalkers. My question is this: How has Amanda changed since the last movie?

Shawnee_Smith: Unfortunately continues to shuffle through the dark. But she HAS changed, that you can be sure of. One of the changes is a very bad haircut. :D

metallico0kie: Thanks for taking time out to talk to all of us! My question is, who was the weirdest/funniest/and quietest actors/actress on the set of Saw and Saw II?

Shawnee_Smith: Oh my gosh...I'd have to say Billy, the Saw doll. I think that's his name!

justin138: Hi, Shawnee! Let me just say that I personally think your acting was the most convincing out of anyone in the first Saw, you did a great job! I was wondering if you could tell us what it was like going into the bear trap scene in Saw sick with a fever?

Shawnee_Smith: First of all, thank you for your encouraging words. And I'd say the fever and delusion were perfect timing to get into that contraption!

horrorchannelfan: Did you ever see James Wan on the set of Saw II? On the uncut Saw DVD we hear the producers commenting about Wan visiting the filming of Saw II, did you see and talk to him at all?

Shawnee_Smith: Yes, he would come on set with the single purpose of torturing Darren Bousman and it was good fun! Every time he came around we told Darren that James was taking over! 'Cause he was doing pre-production on his next studio picture next door, Silence.

deadlyrom: The first and second Saw films were filmed over substantially different timeframes and with different budgets. Was the directing of Darren and Wan really different, and was it different now that they had more of a budget and more $$ to spend?

Shawnee_Smith: Well, I don't think they spent a lot more money this time around. I mean, they definitely spent more but it wasn't...they kept it lean and mean, which I thought was smart of the producers to do. Darren did have an animatronic Billy which really pissed off James, as well as a little more time, and James had eighteen days. But they still kept it lean and mean, both the schedule and the budget. It's the only reason they hired Darren...'cause he's cheap!

bloodpuddle: Hey Shawnee Smith. You made a shocking preformance in Saw, and I congratulate you for your role in Saw II :)I was wondering what your personal favorite traps from both films were? And what about them make them unique in your opinion?

Shawnee_Smith: Ugh, all of the horror. It just so happens that the two traps that I encounter are, I think, about the most hideous and unnerving. Although there's one trap with razor blades in part two is pretty brutal...it's my favorite visual. But somehow I lucked out and got into the most terrifying, revolting traps one could imagine. I don't even like to be scared. I always wind up in scary movies!

lizzie: Hi Shawnee, I’m so nervous, anyway, its a pleasure to talk to you! My question is, how long did it take to do the makeup? And what IS up with the hair? Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us! You must have a super busy schedule.

Shawnee_Smith: Thank you for taking the time to talk to me!

The makeup has to do with the story. We're not a healthy bunch in this house. My general physical appearance was my specific attempt to look as different as I could possibly look from part one, just to reflect some of the change in Amanda between part one and two.

The additional change of my physical had to do with the fact that I was three months pregnant and hiding it from everybody. There definitely would've been heart attacks on that set if the men involved knew I was falling into needle pits with child. I kept that to myself and made sure that my baby and I were safe.

You should see my belly now. I could go into labor during this chat!

Jigsaws_Trap: Just for spur of the moment -- Do you think if you were in Doctor Gordon's shoes... you could take off your own foot?

Shawnee_Smith: Shawnee or Amanda?

Jigsaws_Trap: Yourself

Shawnee_Smith: For the sake of my children, I could saw off just about any limb. Not for the sake of myself, but for the sake of my children.

perfectbabyperfect: Hi Shawnee! Thanks for coming in to chat with us! I'd like to ask what your biggest challenges were in filming Saw & Saw II? Thank you! And a huge congratulations to you on your baby!

Shawnee_Smith: Biggest challenge of both of them was just living out the horror of it. That's why I didn't want to do part one in the first place because, like, I can't tease a role. I live it out by myself no matter how pleasant or unpleasant the scenario is. Saw I and II are just about unpleasant as you can get.

Of course, on top of that the challenge of part one, running off every twenty minutes to throw up with the flu. In Part II, running off to throw up with morning sickness!

metallico0kie: We all know Zep is done, and also Detective Sing. But assuming Dr. Gordon and also Adam were dead also (maybe they aren’t :D )...out of those 4, who would you want to rise from the dead, and come back for Saw II?

Shawnee_Smith: Zep, because he was so full of personality.

Leer: Shawnee how do you feel you contributed to Saw and Saw II other than as a actor?

Shawnee_Smith: My good looks!

Thank you everyone for your attention and your loyalty! Everyone worked really hard to give you what you DESERVE with Saw II. And I hope it finds you satisfied with our efforts after Halloween!

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

THX to Lions Gate Films we can give you a look inside the production of SAW 2. The film comes out this friday October 28th, and I don't know any genre fan who doesn't want to see this movie. But for now, read on to learn more about SAW 2:

"Hello, Michael. I want to play a game…" Jigsaw is back. The brilliant, disturbed mastermind who wreaked havoc on his victims in last year’s SAW is back for another round of horrifying life-or-death games. When a new murder victim is discovered with all the signs of Jigsaw's hand, Detective Eric Mathews (Donnie Wahlberg) begins a full investigation and apprehends Jigsaw with little effort. But for Jigsaw, getting caught is just another part of his nefarious plan. Eight more of his victims are already fighting for their lives – and now it's time for Mathews to join the game...

"SAW was one of those movies where people begged for a sequel because there were so many questions that were left at the end of the film," explains producer Oren Koules. "We were on the fence about whether or not we wanted to do it," adds Mark Burg, Koules' producing partner. "But we got so many e-mails from people wanting to know what happened with Jigsaw that we couldn't not do it."

"When I watched the first SAW," remembers director Bousman, a music video veteran who is making his feature film debut with SAW II, "it grabbed me because it showed real people put in real situations where they're forced to become monsters. This time, we really focus on Jigsaw, and the fans of the first film are going to get to see the man behind the madness." Since Jigsaw's identity is currently a mystery to audiences, the filmmakers decided that Det. Mathews would discover Jigsaw’s whereabouts early on. It is soon revealed that Jigsaw has much more elaborate plans, plans which involve eight captive strangers and, most importantly, Mathews himself.

Like the original, there are plenty of unexpected twists that will leave even the most savvy fans of the genre shaking their heads (and jumping out of their seats) more than once. "What you think the movie is about is not what it's about at all," says Bousman. "It keeps changing directions. There's a drastic shift in the last couple of scenes where we see what the real game is that is being played, and it's something much grander and much bigger than we could ever have expected."

Indeed, the ending is such a surprise that only key cast and crew were given the final pages of the already heavily-guarded script. Additionally, the filmmakers shot "four or five" alternate endings so as not to reveal their ultimate intentions. Along with SAW director James Wan and writer/co-star Leigh Whannell serving as executive producers, the producers re-assembled the first film's creative team, with David Armstrong returning as cinematographer, Charlie Clouser reenlisting as composer and Kevin Greutert back on board as editor.

Armed with a bigger budget and a desire to top the first film's ingenious ways to torment Jigsaw's prisoners, production designer David Hackl was eager to take full advantage of SAW II's gruesome potential. "Jigsaw has moved to a new lair, which is essentially a crack house," says producer Gregg Hoffman. "It's still incredibly disgusting, with all of these bizarre torture devices."

Hackl especially enjoyed solving the logistics of how Jigsaw's nasty traps work. In one scene, a character unknowingly slips her hands into a vessel filled with razor blades. "I had a million questions: 'Why can’t she pull her hand out? Why can't she break the vessel? Why can’t she apply a tourniquet to her arm to stop the bleeding?' Those aren't the usual kind of questions a production designer asks," he says, laughing. "It's really cool to be part of such a balls-to-the-wall scenario," says actress Shawnee Smith. "Like the jaw-trap scene in the first film, all of these scenes are really medieval. You don't see a lot of that in films, and here they're done hardcore."

With only three weeks to construct the sets for the entirety of the film, Hackl achieved the impossible, assembling twenty-seven sets on a single sound stage, all in time for SAW II’s five-week production schedule in the spring of 2005.

Director Darren Lynn Bousman's participation in SAW II came via an unlikely, circuitous route. Having seen footage from SAW before the film's release, Bousman was impressed by the camerawork of cinematographer Armstrong and wanted him to collaborate on a SAW-like thriller he had written called "The Desperate." Armstrong was floored by Bousman's script and rushed it to SAW's producers, Gregg Hoffman and Oren Koules. "We didn't have any idea this would be a sequel to SAW," says Oren Koules. "But when Gregg pitched it to me on the phone, I listened and I said, 'That's SAW II.'"

With Lions Gate Films eager to usher a SAW sequel into theatres within a year, and with Whannell and Wan busy promoting the first film, Hoffman and Koules saw Bousman's script as the perfect opportunity to get a sequel under way. With a rewrite by Whannell and lots of input from James Wan – whom Koules said "helped put the SAW in SAW II" – the script slowly evolved to encompass the horrifying world of Jigsaw.

Bousman's own talent and passion as a director was another intriguing part of the package. While placing a first-time director at the helm of a much-anticipated sequel might be considered risky, there was little hesitation on the part of the producers. "We had seen his commercials," remembers Hoffman, "and I thought if we took a chance on James Wan based on an eight-minute teaser he made on his own, then we should take that chance again for the sequel. We absolutely made the right decision.""Darren Bousman is great," declares producer Mark Burg. "He's slick. He's smart. And he's shooting a hell of a movie."

From the beginning, there was no question in the mind of Oren Koules that actor Tobin Bell would be back to play Jigsaw. "Tobin's a rock star for us," says Koules. "In SAW, he wore the make-up, the special effects prosthetics and everything, which took two or three hours a day to apply, and then laid on a linoleum floor all day for six days, all only to get up for one scene." A firm believer in the old cliché that "there is no such thing as a small part," Bell threw himself into the role of Jigsaw. "I'd never quite seen a small part that was so central and powerful," recalls Bell. "When something like that is going to be done, you invest in it completely, and that's what I did."

Now, Bell is excited to have the opportunity to flesh out Jigsaw in the sequel. "Jigsaw's mind is perhaps the most complicated and dangerous trap in the movie," says the actor. "Because Jigsaw, in his mind, doesn't kill people – he leaves all of the decisions up to them. He believes that people don't appreciate their lives, and they can only learn to appreciate their lives by being forced to fight for survival."

Also returning from the first film is the character of Amanda, played by Shawnee Smith, who is the only person to survive one of Jigsaw's brutal games. Though she was only a supporting character in SAW, Amanda became something of an icon for the film; her horrified face was used prominently in one-sheets and teasers for the original. Says Hoffman, "Shawnee has created this very intense, out there and dynamic character who has confronted Jigsaw before and seems to have extra insight because of what is going on."

Smith admits it's very exciting being part of the world of SAW. "It's become a phenomenon, and I really love working with the production company and the producers," she says. "When they asked me to do the second one, I was thrilled – even though I still don't like to be scared."

Donnie Wahlberg, who is widely known for his work in THE SIXTH SENSE and the HBO series "Band of Brothers," passed on doing horror films in the past; but he felt this project was different. "The first movie had a lot of balls," says the actor. "For a million dollar budget, they got a lot done, and it really surprised people. They've reinvented the genre a little bit, and I think that’s very inspiring." Wahlberg also didn't want to disappoint his son, who is a huge fan of the first film. "He and his friends said 'Yeah, Dad, Yeah!' when I told them I was thinking about taking the part," says Walberg. "They've already taken a bunch of the props to school."

"Donnie was amazing from the beginning," enthuses Bousman. "He came right to the table with ideas, and it was great being able to go through the script with him and have him say 'Hey, what if we tried this?' Everything from specific lines to the color of his tie. And the ideas were always right on.""Donnie Wahlberg brings a ton of dedication to this part," says Koules, who believes that Wahlberg's own role as a father brings a rich emotional layer to his portrayal of Detective Mathews. "He really brings the intense compassion of a man who is doing his job and all of a sudden gets tangled up in a situation where his son might be a victim. The audience is really going to see that in this performance."

Along with Amanda, there are several other characters who are trapped together, each searching for an antidote to a slow-acting poison that will kill them in two hours' time. Hard-nosed Xavier (Franky G.) makes no bones about looking out for himself; sensible Jonas (Glenn Plummer) tries to play group leader; tough-as-nails Addison (Emmanuelle Vaugier), rat-like Obi (Tim Burd), and emotionally fragile Laura (Beverley Mitchell) are also tested as Jigsaw's demands wear them down physically and emotionally.

"I hate horror movies," jokes Beverley Mitchell, who is best known for playing a minister on the WB family drama "Seventh Heaven." "What makes this different is that this is a real psychological thriller. We really get into the mindset of these characters, and because you can identify with them, it's terrifying when you see them doing horrible things to each other. They're not just being chased by a guy with a chainsaw."

Having received rave reviews for his screen debut in the 2002 Sundance hit MANITO, Franky G. quickly grasped the part of Xavier – a self-involved thug who is prone to violence. "He doesn't give a shit about anybody else," explains Franky. "At first, he thinks it's a game, a joke, but the next thing you know, he's kind of gone off the deep end."

As a first-time director, Bousman was initially unsure about the performances he would be able to elicit from his cast, but his doubts were quickly assuaged on set. "It's been amazing working with people like Glenn Plummer, who I've known for years from his part in "The Substitute," or Beverley Mitchell, or Shawnee, who have so much experience," says the director. "There are times when I get a little overwhelmed and they are totally there to help. It's become a passion project for us all."

Undaunted and excited by his debut, Bousman believes his enthusiasm and dedication, which is shared by the entire crew, will translate to the big screen. "This is the kind of movie that will scare people even though it's not about blood and violence. Yes, we have plenty of blood and violence in this movie; but I think the characters and the story are compelling in their own right."

Bousman is bracing himself for the inevitable comparisons to the first SAW; yet he's confident that audiences will be squirming in their seats when SAW II opens in theatres this fall. "People will walk away saying 'Wow, they really got me again!'" says the director. "When I saw the first SAW, and that very last scene of the movie, I was kind of speechless. We've got a couple of tricks up our sleeve that are going to leave the audience the same way. They're really going to dig it."

Be sure to check out The Most Shocking Movie of 2005 in cinemas October 28th.

Last year, ComingSoon.net had a chance to talk to Aussie filmmakers James Wan and Leigh Whannell a few days before their first movie Saw would hit American theatres. The horror movie was about a serial killer known as Jigsaw and the horrific death traps he uses to test his victims. At that time, there was a lot of buzz, but no one knew what an enormous hit it would become in comparison to its modest production budget of just over a million dollars.

After it made $18 million its opening weekend, Lions Gate and production company Twisted Pictures wisely decided to greenlight a sequel to be released this Halloween, and to get things rolling, they approached Darren Lynn Bousman, who had written a script for a horror movie called "The Departed" to turn that idea into a sequel to the popular horror flick. In this case, Jigsaw would have an entire house of horrors and eight victims with which to play games.

Since James Wan had moved on to other things, Bousman was also hired to direct Saw II, and many fans of the original are probably wondering how this sequel will compare and whether it will meet their expectations. To help answer the question, ComingSoon.net sat down with Whannell, a year after the success of his film, and this time, he was joined by the sequel's director Darren Lynn Bousman.

CS: Leigh, we interviewed you and James last year, and some of us expected you to walk in here wearing a nice suit or gold chains. How has the success of "Saw" changed you at all?

Whannell: I don't know. Maybe I should be dressing better or something. You guys know as well as anyone that there's a lot of creative accounting in Hollywood. It takes a long time for money to trickle down the pipe. It's not like on the Monday after the film came out, somebody handed James and I an oversized check and said "Here! You've earned it!" You get it in dribs and drabs. I'm not quite doing "Cribs" yet, but I was telling Darren on the plane that maybe I should act more like someone who has a successful film.

Bousman: That was the funniest thing. I went to his place, and I was expecting him to be sitting at the coffee table with like stacks of hundreds, just sitting there.

Whannell: You get to the point where you feel like you should be advertising success. You've gotta buy the manual called "Stuff to Buy When You've Had a Successful Film". Ah, that's the car I'm supposed to drive, but I'm like driving around in this crappy rental car, living in this little apartment…

CS: For those just joining us, how did you originally get involved with "Saw"?

Whannell: It just came out of James and I. We were friends, and we went to film school in Melbourne, Australia. We graduated film school, and five years later, we kinda just looked at each other, and I said, "You know what? We graduated film school five years ago. If we keep meeting up and talking about it, five years from now, we're still not going to have a film. The only way we're going to be able to make a film is if we actually pay for it out of our own pockets." At that time, that was an unthinkable prospect because we had zero cash, so we just sat down and asked ourselves what is the absolute cheapest film we could come up with? We were using films like "Blair Witch" as a template. We were like if we shoot it on video, if we have two cast members and it's all in one room, that I think we can do. And then we spent another month coming up with all these bad ideas like "Okay, it's two guys, and they're stuck in an elevator for the entire movie, and the whole movie is seen through the security camera!" All these sort of lame, gimmicky ideas about how we could do something super-cheap and one day, the idea for "Saw" popped out. It's like two guys wake up chained up in this bathroom. When I went off and wrote it, I wrote all these other scenes and James is reading it going "This isn't set in one room! You've got torture scenes…you've got cops…you've got car chases…what are you doing? We'll never afford this!" And I was like "We'll be fine," and two years later, it finally got made.

CS: What types of horror movies were you a fan of at that time?

Whannell: I guess it runs the spectrum. Horror's weird, because it has all these little sub-genres. You can be a fan of zombie films, but not slasher films, or you can be a fan of monster films, but not this. It's almost like heavy metal in that respect. It's like once you start dissecting it, you realize that there's 80 subgenres. There's not just heavy metal, there's Norwegian black metal, there's speed metal thrash metal, and with James and I, we were into a lot of them. We loved zombie films, we loved the old school Hammer stuff, we love European stuff like Mario Bava. "Saw" was kind of like a piece of all these different things we liked thrown into the pot.

CS: Once you achieve the success with it, did it create this flood of opportunities that you didn't know what the hell to do?

Whannell: Yeah, it really did. "Saw" was sort of planned that way. It was us saying "Okay, let's make a feature film on video at home in Australia. We'll then take that finished film, and it'll be like this really expensive business card that we'll show people and from that film, we'll get other jobs." What ended up happening was instead of "Saw" leading to a film that comes out in America and makes money. "Saw" was the film that came out! So all of a sudden, we're kind of like getting all these offers, and we hadn't really planned any next step, so it was a weird situation to be in to have all these people going "What's next? What's next?" I think you gotta slow down a bit in Hollywood for the lack of a better word, because that worker bee mentality really kicks in. People want things yesterday and if you're not careful, you can get caught up in that and try to provide them with something by yesterday.

CS: And yet, you managed to make a sequel in a year.

Whannell: I know. It's just insane. As soon as "Saw" was done, it was like "What's next? What's next? What's next?" and I was going "Woah woah…let's slow down." I just think it was like we had to release it next Halloween. At first I was worried, but it's turned out great.

CS: Okay, Darren, so you basically had this script for a movie you wanted to make. How did it get turned into Saw II?

Darren Lynn Bousman: It was a crazy process. Two year years ago, before "Saw" came out, I wrote this script called "The Desperate" and I'd been trying to get it made all around town, and I kept getting doors shut saying that it was too violent, it was too dark, it was too disturbing, it was too everything. Finally, I started getting some interest from a German company, and around the same time, "Saw" was going to Sundance, and people kept comparing my film saying "Dude, we can't make this. It's too Saw-like." Great, now people are going to compare it to Saw, and it'll never get made. I was about to go to Germany to make it, and I was meeting with DP's, and I met David Armstrong who DP'ed "Saw" and "Saw II." He was like "Dude, I love your script. I want to make this movie, but I don't want to go to Germany. What about if I got it made here?" Within ten hours of him saying that, I got a call from Greg Hoffman, who was one of the producers and Greg goes "Do not sign anything. Come to our offices immediately." Originally, they were just going to pick it up to make it its own movie. They were going to make "The Desperate" because they knew that "Saw" was coming out and they wanted to find other films such as. We worked on making "The Desperate" then "Saw" was released October last year, and then two days after that, they called me up and go "Darren, how about if we adapt your script into Saw II?" And so that's how everything happened, and then they saw a short film that I had done, so that's how I got to become director. It was funny. We'd been talking about the script has changed so much. It's a completely different movie now.

Whannell: Yeah, it's weird. Darren and I did so much work on the script that really if you were to read them…

Bousman: You would see similarities. The structure and skeleton was there from the original idea, but then we just went in there and tore it out. We tore the guts out and left the frame.

Whannell: Yeah, it's just the bones left. To me, it's a completely different script. We did so much work on it over seven months, that it really doesn't resemble that anymore. Just that core idea, as he's saying, and I think the finished film really feels like a sequel to "Saw". It doesn't feel to me like a script that's been twisted and pushed around to become the sequel to "Saw". It feels like an organic sequel.

CS: How was it for you working off someone else's script, Leigh, rather than writing from scratch?

Whannell: It was really interesting. Darren had been working on the script, "Saw-ifiing" it and changing things around. I think what happened was the producers were like "Great! We just have to change the names of the characters, and it's Saw II! Voila!" Darren quickly found out, sitting at his laptop over many late nights, it wasn't as easy as changing some character names and it becoming "Saw."It was a bit like putting the square peg in the round hole. The notes he kept getting was like "It needs to have the spirit and themes of "Saw", and eventually, it got to the point where…

Bousman: We kept pulling, stripping things out. It was easy to change one thing, but it was a domino effect. It was a house of cards. You take one thing out and everything falls.

Whannell: We would talk so much on the phone. He would be asking me for advice on stuff. Eventually, it got to the point where Greg, the producer, just called me and "Look, just get involved. Why don't you just come on board and cowrite it?"

Bousman: My phone bill from Australia, where he was at the time, was ridiculous. I was at my parents house during Christmas, and I remember a lot of the stuff was happening, and the phone bill came to over $1,000, so that was a nice Christmas present to my parents.

Whannell: By the time I got involved and Greg called me and said "Listen, come onboard and write this", by that point, I was really interested. At first, I was sort of working on something with James, and this was something going on the side, but as time went by, I started getting really into it and having more and more input to the point where eventually, I just said "I want to come onboard." I think against all odds, it's a really worthy sequel.

CS: Darren, can you talk about the short film you did before doing this?

Bousman: It was a small thing. There was a couple on the reel. They had seen two, and the main one was called "Zombie." It was a two-minute short film, and it wasn't even horror. It's called "Zombie" but it was about depression, and it was very dark and very much in the style of the editing that was in "Saw II," cut like a music video. I had a clear vision what I wanted this film to look like when I went in there, and I think that helped as well. I wasn't originally attached to direct, but I went in the office and was like "You guys are idiots if you don't have me direct. Here's what I would do" I think it's become a new staple of the 'Saw' franchise to have a first-time director…James was 26, too, right?

Whannell: Yeah, if they do "Saw III", they should bring in some other young guy who has never done anything before, because it seems to be working so far. I mean neither James nor Darren had any real experience. James would be the first person to tell you that he hadn't done anything, and they really took a risk letting James direct a feature film with nothing. All he had to show for it was this scene that we had shot from "Saw", which was like the 8-minute jawtrap scene. That's what they went by.

Bousman: Probably it's a bigger risk the second time because you established a franchise at that point. When "Saw" came out and became so huge, and then hand it to another first-time director.

Whannell: I know and then to do it again and for it to work again, I mean, these guys keep landing on their feet. Eventually, maybe somewhere around "Saw 8", the guy's going to completely f**k up and they're going to be like "We should have got someone with experience!"

CS: Can you talk a bit about the controversy over the poster with the MPAA?

Bousman: I mean, the MPAA is there for a specific reason. We all know that they don't want little kids being able to access things they shouldn't see, hence dismembered fingers. You can argue that for an R-rated film, obviously you have to buy a ticket, they have to go into a theatre, but you can see a poster anywhere, so when they saw the poster, I guess that it wasn't shown them prior.

Whannell: Yeah, I can't remember. I think they put it out on the streets.

Bousman: Yeah, it was a street poster is what the deal was, and then it became a popular street poster and then it got picked up in other places. It was never intended to be the initial campaign for it, so when the MPAA saw these street posters advertising a movie that was not approved, I think that was the issue.

Whannell: Well, they got all these rules for posters. Like you can't have a gun pointing at someone…can't have any blood…

Bousman: No, there was a bunch of things I didn't realize that we realized after that.

CS: Leigh, what's your relationship with James at this point?

Whannell: Um…we're sleeping together. I'm just kidding, man. We're working together. He's working on a film now, at this stage called "Silence" for Universal, which is another film that we wrote together, so I guess that's our second film together.

CS: How's that going and where are you guys shooting that?

Whannell: It's already been shot up in Toronto. They did "Saw II" and "Silence" nearby so the producers could have a hand in both. It's very different. It's a real throwback to the Hammer horror tradition. James and I love that old school—I'm trying to think of the most recent film that captures that spirit, like "Sleepy Hollow—we loved the sort of fog, full moon, Vincent Price, red velvet, Dario Argento type stuff. We didn't want it to be campy, but we wanted to really hark back to that stuff, because we just love the way it looks, and "Silence" is that. It's kind of a tribute to these older style horror films, so it's very different. It's nowhere near as visceral. It's more of a ghostly film.

CS: Does James have any interest in returning to the "Saw" franchise, and in the same respect, Darren, would you want to do another movie if you get a chance?

Bousman: I definitely think that I'll stay involved, in some respect. It's always hard to answer that, so I think it all depends on how people respond to "Saw II." I think that's the big question in determining any sequel is how does the last one do? If fans want another one and they're really keen on this and it does very well, then of course, I'm open to it if we're lucky enough to do a 3, 4, 5, 6, 7…

Whannell: I don't know. I think the reason James wanted to move on was that you gotta remember that "Saw" was a finished film in January of 2004, but it wasn't released until October, so you had months and months of the film sitting on a shelf waiting to come out. During that time, James and I started working on another project. By the time "Saw" came out and did well and the producers called up and said "How about a sequel?" we were already well into "Silence" so I think that's why James had to choose between the two films. Does he go with the new film or does he go back to "Saw"? I think that he wanted to try something new.

CS: How do you guys feel about taking on another sequel, "The Legend of Zorro," your opening weekend?

Whannell: We just hope people don't buy tickets for "Zorro" and then sneak into "Saw," man. That's what cost us last time. People would buy tickets for the PG-13 "Grudge" and then sneak into our movie. Man, "The Grudge" took half our box office and it's bullsh*t!

Bousman: It's funny 'cause the kids on the message boards are already talking about it, because a lot of the fans are 12 and 13 years old and they're already talking about it.

Whannell: They'd buy a ticket to "The Grudge" and then sneak into "Saw". Steve Susco, who wrote "The Grudge" is a friend of ours and we're always giving him sh*t like "Man, you only got to #1 because of us, baby."

Do I need to remind anyone???? Listen, you guys all kick some major ass!!! Real major ass.... Since I have been gone off the boards for a while, and not had a chance to answer a lot of your questions, I have decided to give my friends over at HOUSE OF JIGSAW a little gift....

[CENSORED because I want you all to visit House Of Jigsaw, the post is named: Less than a week..... , Please join House Of Jigsaw! All SAW fans need to go there!]

- - - that is an AOL name I have set up... If you have instant messenger, go ahead and drop me an IM... If I am around - we can chat - and hopefully answer as question or two!

Jigsaw, the serial killer with a particularly imaginative bent, is back in this sequel to last year's sleeper horror hit. Attempting to resurrect the sort of gory, hard-core horror film that has been eclipsed in recent years by the plethora of tamer, PG-13 releases, Lions Gate and the all too aptly named Twisted Pictures clearly have a new franchise on their hands. Halloween grosses should be monstrous, with plenty of video business to follow. The killer himself takes a far more prominent role in this edition, and as played by the superb Tobin Bell he's quite a memorable creation. Soft-voiced and physically frail because of the cancer ravaging his body, the diabolical Jigsaw is determined to make people appreciate their lives, mainly by dispatching them in the most ingenious of ways.The first victim, bloodily disposed of even before the opening credits roll, tries unsuccessfully to gouge out his own eye in order to retrieve a key that has been surgically implanted.

The blanket of secrecy surrounding "Saw II" has been, up to this point, as impenetrable as any death-dealing, device-laden room ever designed by the series' Jigsaw Killer.

Five different endings were shot in order to confuse any productionstaff who might let the truth slip; the film's actors have operated under strict orders to reveal nothing more than the bare minimum; advance screenings (typically scheduled weeks in advance to create media buzz) only recently began.

The select few permitted entry into one of the showings also received a letter from the filmmakers asking for their "cooperation." "Like its predecessor," the note from writer/director Darren Lynn Bousman and co-writer Leigh Whannell insists, " 'Saw II' is a suspense thriller whose success with audiences relies heavily on surprises and unexpected twists of plot."

Such extreme measures should help explain the significance of a rare advance interview with the film's star, Donnie Wahlberg. It also gives you an idea, however, of the gory, demented, unapologetic terror that he must avoid revealing with as much precision and care as a man attempting to amputate his own foot.

"Yeah, it's bloodier," the actor chuckled. "It has all the ingredients of the first one. It's easy for people to see the trailer and say, 'OK, there were two people in the house in the first movie, and eight people in the house in the second movie. Wow, big deal.' But there really is so much more to it than that; it's just so delicate that we don't want to tell anybody anything."

He is allowed, however, to discuss the film's opening sequence, a startlingly violent scene that snaps the viewer right back into the horrified trance that the first film cast so well. "There's this fiendish flytrap kind of device, sort of similar to the bear trap thing that Shawnee Smith wore in the first movie; it's just sick. And it's not even so much the fiendish flytrap device, so much as where the key is. This guy can get out if he can get to the key, but what he has to do to get to that key is just not good. It's just not good.

"The key is hidden somewhere in his body and he's got to find it," Wahlberg grimaced. "And that's all I'm gonna say about that."

"Saw II" takes place a few months after the developments of the first film. "I pick up where Danny Glover left off, but the difference is that I'm very reluctant to get involved in this case," Wahlberg revealed about his character, a world-weary police detective named Eric Mathews. "I'm not really the most ethical person in the world, and I'm not really in good spirits when this case finds me. Ultimately, I have to come along. I get pulled in."

"Danny Glover was desperate to capture Jigsaw because he wanted to," the 36-year-old star observed. "I'm desperate to capture Jigsaw because I have to."

Suffice it to say that Jigsaw has big plans for Detective Mathews, his supposedly invincible SWAT team and those eight random people pacing around nervously in that dingy, booby-trapped house. "Oh yes, there will be blood," the killer boasts near the beginning of the film, and viewers are bound to often be reminded of the two fingers from the movie's poster as they watch most of the movie between two of their own.

"It's funny," Wahlberg said. "They played one scene last night at this preview party we did. Everyone was doing that, watching through their fingers."

Although the actor might typically get typecast as a tough guy, Wahlberg admitted that he watched the first "Saw" the same way as so many others — in an uncomfortable state of awe. "I don't want to overstate the value of a horror movie, but in many ways the film was sort of groundbreaking. A couple of kids just kind of came up with this idea, and pretty much made it for no money. ... The kids who love [the 'Saw' movies] are the kids who are gonna be making digital films in their garage, editing on the computer in their house. This movie is probably an inspiration for them — but hopefully not to go out and slash people up."

The series has become such a phenomenon that fans were constantly approaching Wahlberg during filming, asking which of the "Saw" trademarks would return. Would Jigsaw still taunt his victims with handheld tape recorders? Would the bathroom make a cameo appearance in the sequel? And, perhaps most importantly: Would the driving scenes still look ridiculously low-budget?

"I did some fake driving," Wahlberg laughed. "It's still fake as hell; some dude was shaking the van. It was pretty funny."

So when you see Wahlberg and his shaky van, feel free to laugh out loud. Because, during the rest of "Saw II," you're bound to find yourself at the other end of the emotional spectrum.

"I don't know, man. It's just a little warped," Wahlberg shrugged, summing up his take on the film's demented, top-secret twists and turns. "You just gotta watch and find out."

Hey Everyone!There has not been alot of SAW news so I'm going to let you all know about a few services/places/communitys where I get my SAW news and/or just chat.

Panic AtticGreat horror fan site community, Join on in! This is a great place just to talk about your favorite horror movies or just other things. (Summed up: Become a Member, Have Fun)House of Jigsaw Fourmsthe most official fourms for SAW information, if there is SAW news its usally here first

SawMovie dot CAIve marked this down as the best canadian site ever lol all about SAW, very awesome!

Thursday, October 20, 2005

Miracle workers we are. Diabolical serial killers with a penchant for morality mind games and elaborate puzzles we most certainly are not. So, to herald the arrival of Lions Gate Films and Twisted Pictures’ Saw II - the follow-up to last Halloween's horror hit - what we are not going to do is choose some random reader and put him or her in a foreign environment with some creepy-ass puppet while we watch with satisfaction their plight on a webcam feed.

Although I’m sure some of you sick screws would like that, wouldn't ya?

The legal ramifications would be a tad bothersome, and we’d like to avoid that. What we are going to do, however, is host another wave of live chats with the sick minds behind the film and those who are unwillingly exposed to Jigsaw's latest scheme. Not familiar with the world of Saw and all this “Jigsaw” jive talkin' I'm doing? Here's a synopsis of the latest chapter, directed by Darren Lynn Bousman, to bring you up-to-speed: "Jigsaw is back. The brilliant, disturbed mastermind who wreaked havoc on his victims in last year's SAW is back for another round of horrifying life-or-death games. When a new murder victim is discovered with all the signs of Jigsaw's hand, Detective Eric Mathews (Donnie Wahlberg) begins a full investigation and apprehends Jigsaw with little effort. But for Jigsaw, getting caught is just another part of his nefarious plan. Eight more of his victims are already fighting for their lives - and now it's time for Mathews to join the game.".

We like our chats to begin in a timely fashion, so if you plan on participating, we suggest you get in early. Now, here's what the rest of the month looks like. Keep in mind that many of the actors involved are pretty damn busy these days. Last minute changes should not come as a surprise.

As I said in another forum, I have a film director friend who has many connections in Hollywood/LA, and somehow (he will not say how) he obtained an advance copy. So, yes, I have seen it. The following is not really a review, and it's far from a spoiler, but I think you may wish to read.

Plot : Like Jigsaw, thought out, but still cryptical. Better than the first movie, as there is a lot more to say, incl. the story of Jigsaw himself, along of what's up with Gordon and Adam, and well everyone else. The pieces fall much better together than Saw I.

Characters : You can't help to feel for them. They are quite thought out. Better than most movies of the genre where they are just to be killed. Amanda is very good, and I was quite surprised by Johan and Xaiver too. Obe was excellent If you count Billy as a character (I do), then you will love it. He is VERY VERY GOOD in this, and his lines if anything gotten even better.

Film Style : Very dark, darker than even "Saw I" Most everything seems to be under a 40 watt bulb. Lots of shadows and grit. Very good job done here. The film has a hopeless feel, and this style is great for it. The sets are awesome. Not many a picture shows gloom so well. From the dirt to rust, everything wetches a decay emotion. The panic scenes are jarring, moving quickly (think Razor Wire scene in "Saw I") and quite intense. The sets are

Music : Not a fan of this type of most this music. However, it was used quite well, and fit what was on screen really well. Couster, of course, is awesome. I wish he did the whole thing personally. Been a much more effective in the scare dept. IMHO if this was the case.

Gore : I am amazed this got an "R"! Living proof that if you have a success in something (this case, Saw I), you can get away with a lot more because Hollywood will make is money. Trust me, you will not be dispointed. This is gory movie I've seen since "High Tension", but not like blood blood blood, but more like pain pain pain.. insane gore instead of the gallon tubs. It reeks of even something more evil.. If Fuici was still around he probably would call this movie and masterpiece and make Wan/Leigh and co. to make his next movie!

Twist : What do you mean by twist? This movie has several. Enough to make you go "How f*cked up?" for the whole movie. I will not allow myself to tell you what's up... but some of you were right about things, and some of you were wrong (don't worry, it's all good) but both sides will be never knowing until the end.... then bang, another twist at the end. Saw III possible? Sure!

All in all, I found it much better than "Saw I' and I loved "Saw I".. this is great horror film making.. eat your dang heart out Wes, Tobe and John.. you were the past.. this is the future! Torch is offically passed from Fuici to Wan. EXCELLENT WORK DARREN!! CONGRATS ON YOUR FIRST FILM! Your check is in the mail and more offers will be comin'!

Anyhoo, hope this helps. Any questions, just ask... except for spoilers, I am not going to go there because my lips are zipped on that!

-W420

Only thing he says BAD about is the music, I enjoy it ! (from what ive heard from the soundtrack)

I had no idea what to expect when I arrived at Lion’s Gate Films’ corporate headquarters for a test screening of “Saw 2”. I had helped man the booth for the horror comedy success “The Janitor” at the recent Necrocomicon convention, where Lion’s Gate had spread “Saw 2” merchandise everywhere. We heard from the guys that put on the convention earlier today and they told my friend and I they had put us on the guest list for the screening.

I had enjoyed the first film, but hadn’t really been a hardcore fan of it, so I was skeptical from the get-go when it came to the sequel. The well made sequel. The very well made, very bloody, sadistically violent sequel, in fact. I can’t think of any other possible way they could have made this movie, nothing to change, and nothing to omit.

That is just a matter of opinion of course, there are still some cringe-worthy acting moments, but I think the cringe-worthy and very creative violence they squeezed into the film more than make up for it. I would give anything to be able to spoil the entire movie in this review, it’s one of those you just can’t help but talk way too much about, so I’ll hold back and try to keep this short and spoiler-free.

The look of the film is basically what you’d expect from a “Saw” sequel, it looks just like the first. However, I thought this was a very good thing, the new locations, characters, and deaths with the instantly classic “Saw” look we’ve come to know was a very cool experience.

I mentioned that the acting wasn’t the greatest in some parts, but that’s mostly towards the beginning, and I easily became entranced by the characters once the mayhem began. By the way, the mayhem begins very early in the film, and never really lets up. It seemed to me that the movie was running at a tortuous breakneck speed most of the time. There is a lot of the “Saw” rapid-fire montages, and violent quick cutting during the more strenuous moments. In spite of this, the film seems to relish in leaving the violence on screen a bit more than expected, numerous times I’d expect it to cut away from something, but I’d be surprised by even more being shown. Especially the startling last death of the film, it was glorious.

The acting was sometimes surprisingly good, the reactions and pain of the actors was frighteningly real, but the best performance has to go to Tobin Bell as the diseased Jigsaw killer. Donnie Wahlberg does a decent job as the hardened police officer, his stress breakdown goes over very convincingly, and Shawnee Smith does a great job with her Amanda character from the first “Saw”. She is involved in an extremely intense scene involving some syringes (I won’t say how many) that is sure to have lots of moviegoers squirming in their seats.

So, wrapping this up, the movie starts quickly (with the venus fly trap mask most people have at least seen pictures of) and ends even quicker, with way more carnage than expected crammed in the middle. What's more, look forward to another incredible twist ending, actually a few twists, that forced me to start laughing out loud in the screening room. Laughing in a good way though, the same reaction you had when Jigsaw stood up and walked out in the end of the first film. This could easily be even more intense than that, because the twists just don’t stop coming. The filmmakers also do an excellent job of wrapping up any “loose ends” left over from the first film. I’ll stop at that, before I am too tempted to spoil everything.

Ok, most of the time I wouldn't review a movie I love so much because I would probablly give it a really high rating like above, but everything was here, even amanda going through the stomach for the key, on top of that the colors were corrected and looked alot better then when I saw it in theatres, And that is the main reason behind me giving it a 9/10

Extras - 10/10

Big Improvement over the last DVD (which I probablly would give a 2/10) But the features it had were really nice as well, even some hidden things like the hilarious SAW in 60 seconds, I love the extra's they were just great!

Overall - 8/10

I wish I could review more but the thing is this is my first time reviewing, expect to see a better, more into it review of SAW 2. This DVD overall would get a 8/10 just because the fact that it was out so late but besides that its a definite pick-up, even if you are not a fan, it was cheaper then the first SAW DVD I got which is really great (Places I Recommend: Best Buy, Target)

It’s been a while since the last of my SAW II blogs (note that it’s not “2”, it’s “II” per the official Lions Gate decree) disgraced the virtual pages of JoBlo.com and Arrowinthehead.com, so I thought I’d take a few minutes to update you all.

I left Toronto tonight just as we were finishing up the sound mix on SAW II. Bousman has been bouncing off the walls of the mix stage, yelling at anyone who would listen that “my man Charlie Clouser busted out his ‘A’ game on this score!” And indeed, Clouser has done it again and given the film its signature raw, industrial, yet melodic vibe. The one thing I noticed about this score versus the original SAW is that there seems to be more guitar in this one than in the first.

Also, he’s created a couple of new themes to go along with the ones already familiar to the SAW army out there. There is a soundtrack album coming out just before the October 28th release of the film, but other than end title songs by Mudvayne and Queens of the Stone Age, the rest of the source music in the film is blended almost organically into the score, so you’ll have to be listening carefully to hear Marilyn Manson, The Used and Puscifer (featuring Maynard from Tool), among others.

After spending close to five months in Toronto – a GREAT city to work in, by the way, and a great city to party in, especially in the summer months – it was only fitting that Darren Bousman and I leave our good neighbors to the north in style. In typical fashion, what started out as a promising night, quickly became what we now call –THE STRANGEST NIGHT EVER. Here’s a brief recap.

For several days, my man Bousman, who now has a modicum of game with the ladies as a result of his 6 month stay in Toronto under the expert tutelage of myself and my partners Oren Koules and Mark Burg, had been calling me multiple times an hour talking about some party he got us invited to for something called “The Suicide Girls.”

For those of you unaware of what the Suicide Girls are, it’s a loosely-knit group of about 800 tattooed, pierced rocker and punk chicks who do erotic photo sets on a website (see it here) and travel around the U.S. and Canada doing burlesque shows and creating mayhem. Personally, I prefer my dirty girls to be…well….cleaner… but Bousman has a real fetish for the nasty rocker type.

My plan for the night was simple – act as Bousman’s pimp, draw attention to the fact that he directed the sequel to SAW to give him some cred, and then stay close by in case he started saying anything stupid or inappropriate.

Bousman had been building this party up in his mind for days and convinced himself he was going to meet “the future ex Mrs, Bousman” at this event. We brought along our sound-effects editor Mark, who is quite possibly the darkest, dirtiest most subversive human I’ve ever met, knowing he, too, would enjoy a night of trying to pick-up filthy rocker whores.

So it was a sad sad day when we walked into the club and discovered a half-filled room, about five bottom-of-the-barrel Suicide Girls and a sad aneroxic-looking waitress passing around shots of Jagermeister. The only attractive girl in the place, who we quickly learned was a lesbian, even stated as she watched three skanks dancing poorly on the makeshift stage, “this shit is enough to make me hetero again.”

I should have heeded the warning signs and called it a night when Bousman spent about 30 minutes chatting up a punked-out girl sitting on a bar stool before he realized SHE HAD NO ARMS AND LEGS! (I swear on my children this is true) But no, I was a man on a mission. Bousman wanted a dirty girl, Bousman was going to get a dirty girl.

Needless to say, I immediately went into back-up mode. Unfortunately, my back-up plan was on a girls-only, “no cock allowed” night, so I began to get agitated. How could we salvage this night? I did what any man would do – suggested we go to a nearby strip club. If we couldn’t meet dirty girls, we could at least pay dirty girls to be nice to us!

We walked three or four blocks in the rain to one of the high-end strip clubs in town. After the nastiness of the Suicide Girls party, we needed to see some quality and even on a rainy Tuesday night, there was no shortage of ladies willing to relieve me of as many $20’s as possible. I smoothly slipped the host/security dude a $20 and told him to put us in a private room and send over three of the finest ladies he had.

Things quickly went from bad to worse. After buying several rounds of drinks, the girl dancing for me bailed when one of her regulars walked in. The girl Darren had on his lap was nice enough to go out into the club and find me a replacement. While Annie, the replacement, was cute as could be, within moments she had cut her knee on a small shard of glass embedded in the booth, and moments later began telling me about a dream she had the night before wherein she apparently grew a second asshole. Okkkkaaayyyy……

By now it was clear that the stars just weren’t lined up right, but Bousman was in lapdance heaven and who was I to deny him pleasure? He’d busted his ass for me and made one hell of a movie. I owed him something. Just then the door to the room opened and in walked a woman -- at least we thought it was a woman -- who we now refer to as “Thor.” Thor had the deepest voice I’ve ever heard on a woman and was obviously drunk as hell.

She pointed at me and said “You need me to dance for you.” At this point she ran across the room, shoved Annie out of the way leaped into the air and slammed her knees down on my thighs as hard as she could. Bousman and Mark then proceeded to watch in horror as Thor repeated this slamming move over and over for the duration of the song, then asked if I wanted another dance!

I screamed in horror and ran from the room. A guy has got to know when to wave the white flag. Clearly, it was a signal that it was time to go home and start thinking about ideas for SAW 3 … or should I say “III.” Yeah, that’s right. I said it. SAW III.

Are you guys ready for a SAW 3? the last two blog posts have been about it!

Lions Gate Films held an exclusive screening of this month's spotlight genre release, Saw II, and Dread Central was there ready to be bathed in all the crimson glory it had to offer.

Following Darren Bousman's auspicious feature film debut, the press had a chance to chat with co-writer Leigh Whannell, Jigsaw himself Tobin Bell and the film's producers. A full write-up is to come, but in the meantime, I thought I'd pull a few quotes of interest that came up when I asked the inevitable - if Saw II strikes it big at the box office, are they ready to stretch Jigsaw's carnage into a third entry?

"Have we been working on stories for 'Saw III'?" replies producer (and Twisted Pictures') Mark Burg. "We kind of deliberately left unanswered questions in 'Saw II' just like in the 'Saw'." Producer Greg Hoffman continues, "Have we been thinking about it? Of course. And yes, it depends on how 'Saw II' does."

"We're still giving birth to ['Saw II']," Whannell chimes in with a laugh. "It's the George Lucas answer, it was always meant to be a trilogy."

Monday, October 17, 2005

romis138 from the HOJ fourms posted some extracted files from the saw 2 dot com website check out his post:

I've found new pictures of some new things not shown before, so don't download if you don't want to see. I already spoiled a picture for True Enemy accidently. I don't keep up with the leaked/shown things, so I didn't know it hadn't been shown.

Inside the zip file are:pictures pictures of dolls(POSSIBLY A NEW TRAP NOT YET KNOWN, I DONT KNOW!) pictures of the swat team(and a video in .swf format of the SWAT arresting jigsaw) pictures of gus(although we already have the video) picture of the death of someone in the room picture of ANOTHER death of someone in the room picture of a jigsaw piece on someone some closeups of faces and whatnot, some i've seen on the net, others i haven't.

sounds(mp3) music from one of the flash files(very very short clip taken directly from it) music 2(same) music 3(same) sound clip of someone finding the EXIT door(already been released) sound clip of jigsaw telling about antidote(already been released) sound clip of wahlberg and son arguing(already been released)

videos(in .SWF format..just open them in your browser) someone going down stairs(short, dont know if its been released) franky axing the door(been released) gus(been released) video of what looks to be the jigsaw rising on some sort of platform(been released) video of SWAT arresting jigsaw(been released) video of wahlberg watching TV, shocked(been released) video of wahlberg and son arguing w/ sound(the only vid out of all these with sound, sorry)

enjoy, guys. here's the zip file(YOU ONLY HAVE TO DOWNLOAD IT FROM ONE OF THESE, i just put it on different sites incase one of the links dies)

megaupload(wait 45 seconds then drag that annoying banner out of the way. speeds tend to suck on this site and its the most annoying to dl from, so this should be a last resort)http://www.megaupload.com/?d=SLOVC14V

again, all those links are the same..its just incase one of them goes down that i put it on different sites.

Hey all! I'm here so I can make the announcement of SAW the Blog 1.5 a completely LESS BUGGY, MORE COMPATABLE, SLEEKER LOOKING site. You may notice little differences, Clear your Cache for the full new experience, I'm not going to start to make SAW the Blog 2.0 for awhile because I just made this new version because the old version was VERY buggy, expect to see little tweaks here and there, so once im done with 1.5 (very minor tweaks need to be done) I will take a break and just update with SAW news instead of designing something new.

Hope you all like!

EDIT: To let you all know, the entire theme hasn't been changed, the sleeker look is just some updates I added

Edit Edit: heres sorta all the updates

I Remade the Navigation, Archives and Last Post Images so they fit with there backround, The header has alittle slogan/tagline/whatever you want to call it under it, and the compatability with Opera and Internet Explorer has Improved, as for firefox, nothing was wrong and is wrong

Sunday, October 16, 2005

Again, True Enemy and his posts on HOJ have made it here, this ones about the rebirth comic, Here's his post:

I came home from work this morning to see the 2 copys of SAW Rebirth I had pre ordered arrive several days early... so for those of you who are not going to get a chance to read it, here are some highlights from the first issue.

--- 1. John worked as a Toy Builder

2. John WORKED with Paul (Razor trap guy) at the Toy Builder Facility.

3. John was in a serious relationship with a woman named Jill. She wanted to make a major commitment, but he couldn't do it. So she left him.

4. Dr. Lawrence Gordon was the doctor to tell John he was going to die.

5. Zep was there the day that John was told he was going to die. John had a break down outside in the hospital and Zep was there to calm him down. Zep is also the one who told John that Larry was about to cheat on his wife.

6. John noticed Mark in a hospital waiting room, Charming on some old ladies.

7. Zep is the one who also told John about a young girl named AMANDA who had OD'D on Heroin.

8. While he was asleep in his hosptial room, he heard alot of commoshion. He stood up, and went outside to only run into Zep again -- Zep filled him in... but he didnt believe it.. he had to see it with his own eyes. He went into the next room only to see -- PAUL.. with his wrists slit.

9. John SHAVED his head. He didn't lose his hair.

10. In the comic book, you see John writing ideas down for his games. The Candles... the Razor wire and most famous of all. The Jawtrap

That was pretty much it, so hopefully they will put out another Issue AFTER Saw II.

http://img416.exs.cx/img416/5563/dscf00119gl.jpg Michael Emerson (Also known as ZEP)'s blood stain shirt. This is the shirt he had on at the end of SAW when Leigh was searching through his pockets. The shirt is still damp and STICKY from the fake blood.

Saturday, October 15, 2005

Ever want to communicate with me or just communicate with other SAW fans? check out the SAW the Blog Fourms! Join the community of SAW the Bloggiyins (wtf?) But yah, hasn't been much news about SAW except

Hear a preview of the Saw II soundtrack in the Saw II website, just go to engage, and find, Soundtrack, the last song (ending score to Saw II) is sorta the same as last time, but somewhat updated, I <3 the last song! LOL

Donnie Wahlberg and Lyriq Something (could not find last name) or another will be in Canada to promote Saw II. They will be appearing live on MuchOnDemand October 19, so Canadians be sure to tune in!

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Over at The Saw Squad website, Offical SAW II Merchandice is now available. The SAW Squad is a promotional website where you join and earn points. The more points you get, the more items you have to purchase. No money what so ever. You can choose from the Saw Rebirth comic book, to Jigsaw's mask to TShirts. so Head on over to thesawsquad.com and try it for yourself.

It has been brought to our attention quite a few times that 'Cheating Death' was a working title in the front of New Line Cinema's Final Destination 3- even producer Craig Perry told us that on the set. But further confirming the rumor are the various attendees of the test screening here in California, who have been emailing me the past few days. In other FD3 news, star Alexz Johnson confirms that the teaser trailer for the film should be attached to Lions Gate Films' Saw II on October 28th. Watch for it online the same day. Set six years after the original Final Destination film, the latest installment in the series centers around a high school senior who has a premonition of a fatal roller coaster accident involving herself and all her friends. FD 3 hits theaters February 10th.